Spotted in Brussels: three porcine pals stacked up for some rest and relaxation.

Two thousand and eleven was an eventful year.

On 30 May 2011, Adrian’s brother Russell had an accident and passed away on the first day of his holiday in North America. Such a shock, a such great loss, such a gap left in the world by this energetic and generous man. We last saw Russell in 2009 when he joined us for a trip through the UK.

On 30 July 2011, baby Hayden was born. The first four months were tough, but now he has matured into a delightful little guy. He is full of smiles and always talking, so snugly and cute. I have watched Adrian become a great daddy, and I am at my happiest when the whole family is together.

Adrian and I also celebrated publications, promotions, grants, bonuses, and awards, travelled to Cyprus and Malta for our babymoon, and showed baby Hayden the countries of Norway, the Netherlands, England, Australia, Singapore and Indonesia.

The events of last year remind me to treasure every moment that I have with my family. After so many years of effort and struggle – finishing a PhD, completing a post-doc, moving to a new country, purchasing an apartment, acquiring a MPH, attaining a permanent position, and achieving a successful pregnancy, I think it is time to slow down. 2012 will be a year of resting on my laurels.

When Hayden’s parrain JT flew over from NYC, we took him to the quirky towns of Dutch Baarle-Nassau and Belgian Baarle-Haartog, all tangled up within each other like a jigsaw puzzle. Located across the Dutch border, twenty Belgian exclaves can be found here, with seven Dutch exclaves within the Belgian exclaves. This meant that Hayden could stand with one foot in the Netherlands and one foot in Belgium:

There is a “front door rule” that means that the position of the front door determines whether a house is classified as being in Belgium or the Netherlands. The nationality of the home is also indicated by a flag next to the house number. We visited the house in which the border goes straight through the middle of the door, and thus has two addresses (and two doorbells):

Loveren 2
2387 Baarle-Hertog
Belgium

and

Loveren 19
5111 Baarle-Nassau
The Netherlands

There was even a divisive border across my lunch, separating the savoury cheese and potato pancake from the sweet cherry crepe. I ate each in isolation and they were delicious.

Plus, JT hand-delivered to us a delicious Black & White cookie, all the way from New York City. Hayden is still too little, so I ate it for him.

What a difference a month makes. When Hayden was three months old, it felt like we could really never put him down. He wanted to be held when he napped. He wanted to be held when he played. He wanted to be held when he was tired. He wanted to be held when he was happy. It felt like every time I put him down he burst into tears.

Then I went back to work and he went off to creche. For the first time in his life he saw more of Adrian than he did of me. Adrian was the one dressing him, feeding him, changing him, and playing with him on the long commute to and from work. Often Hayden and Adrian would have dinner together in Leuven before heading home. This was a great relief, as I had so much on my plate already as I was trying to figure out how to balance my new busy life.

I’m not sure if it’s just maturation, or the beneficial influence of the Flemish creche, or a combination of the two, but Hayden is now a much happier and calmer baby. A lot of the time he is quite happy to entertain himself by playing with his hands – watching in fascination as they furl and unfurl, or trying to interlace the two together.

He is now a joy to be with (most of the time). Adrian and I both feel a lot more attached to him, with his big toothless smiles that greet us everytime we pick him up. Measuring 67 cm and 7.5 kg, he is growing quickly and now wearing 6-12 month old clothing.

He is holding his head up and will turn onto his side by holding his legs in the pike position and then flopping over. He is also babbling constantly and wants to join in with all our conversations.